The website of Children's Author, Jackie Yeager

Making Characters Memorable

Last week’s post called, Fifty Facts was all about listing as much stuff as you can about each character. That way you’ll know enough about them to write them into your story. For example, let’s say your character, Ben loves cars. Since Ben loves cars, you can write a scene where he builds a go- cart and races it in the Soap Box Derby.

Once you’ve made your list of fifty facts though, there’s more you can do to ensure that the character you create jumps off the page. Pick one item from your list. Pick the one that’s the most unusual. Pick the one that will make your reader remember your character.

Think of Ben. Even though it’s interesting that he loves cars, its even more interesting that he speaks in rhyme—all the time. He answers every question by rhyming. He tells his friends about his soccer games by rhyming. He invites his friends to his birthday party—all by rhyming!

See what I mean? By giving Ben a memorable characteristic, like rhyming all the time, you’ve created a character that your readers will never forget. I mean who can forget a character who can rhyme all the time??

So give it a try. Take a look at your list of Fifty Facts. Then pick the one that will make your character unforgettable. Maybe Zoey likes to make her own crayons. Maybe Simon can name the capitols of every state and every past president of the United States. Maybe Sierra collects spoons and uses them to make her own jewelry. Those are just a few examples swirling on my head. I bet you have even better ideas swirling in yours! 🙂